CHAPTER II.

LIFE OF WILLIAM SHARON.

MEN OF THE NEW HESPERIAN GARDEN-ANCESTRY AND EDUCATION OF WILLIAM SHARON-STUDY OF LAW-OPERATIONS IN SAN FRANCISCO-. MARRIAGE-FAMILY-DEATH OF MRS SHARON-RELATIONS WITH RALSTON ON THE COMSTOCK-BANK OF CALIFORNIA-IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE-DEATH-FREDERICK W. SHARON-FRANCIS G. NEW

LANDS.

THE cause and effect of the important events of a community form the subject-matter of history, and, so far as such events are inspired or influenced by its individual members, the history of such individuals becomes an important part of and essential to the true history of the community. As the history of a war or of a military campaign is chronicled not by its results, but by the qualities, plans, and movements of its leaders, so is it with the civil history of a people. The great events of the period, and the impulses, intelligence, and action of the chief actors in those events are what constitute civil history.

California and especially San Francisco have formed no insignificant part of the history of the United States during the past thirty-five years. Far removed from the other populous and enterprising regions of the country, California might, under other than its peculiar conditions, have repeated the slower and less romantic growth and history of all new sections.

But, as the theatre of action growing out of the marvellous production of precious metals in this and

adjacent states and territories, and of the commercial advantages which San Francisco possessed in relation to the trade with the Pacific regions, the events of those thirty-five years compose a history whose importance has been felt, not alone on the scene of action, nor limited even to the nation of which this state and city are a part, but the uttermost limit of commerce and civilization have thrilled under the electric movements of the Pacific coast and of its active, energetic men.

The expanded financial conditions of the world, the gigantic enterprises that have been achieved, the accumulations of private capital that have had no equal in historic time, the increase in the demand for and the compensation of labor, and many of the greatest advances in physical science owe their origin and success to the events and to the men who have directed the events of this hesperian garden of the continent.

To no one man exclusively belongs the claim of this generalship of affairs. There have been here many and varied fields of operation, and many able and recognized leaders. Some still live and are potential guides of practical affairs, and some have fallen, leaving behind them records of achievement and victory, and a developed campaign for others to perfect.

Among the bravest, most intelligent, and unwavering of those whose names and deeds are woven in the warp and woof of California history, the name of William Sharon is indelibly fixed--none more conspicuously, none more indispensably.

He was born January 9, 1821, at the town of Smithfield, Jefferson county, Ohio. That state, then almost the western verge of civilization, was distant more than half a month's journey from the Atlantic, though now it is reached in less than twenty hours. Not a line of railroad had been built in the United States. Indiana and Illinois, which had just then been admitted into the union, were the only other western states; and the three together had not a population

greater than about one half the present population of California. But it was a hardy and courageous people, experienced in the events of border life along that meridian line from which the savage sullenly withdrew to the remoter west.

Pennsylvania, being the adjacent eastern state, supplied the greater part of the early population of Ohio. Among those who had migrated from that region were the ancestors of Mr Sharon's parents. Those on the paternal side were not of quaker lineage, as has been generally supposed, but were descendants of that sturdy race of Scotch settlers in the province of Ulster, in the north of Ireland, familiarly termed the Scotch-Irish-a race which for characteristics of sturdiness, integrity, and patriotic ardor stands unrivalled in America. One William Sharon, a well-to-do farmer from Ayrshire, Scotland, a stern, rigid dissenter, and a man of no mean ability, was among the early Ulster planters. His eldest son, James, married early in life Eleanor Finley. Like many others of the Scotch-Irish in Ulster, they were dissatisfied with the home of their adoption. There were no ancestral ties which bound them in fealty thereto, and when the invitation came from the New World, they were not loath to leave. Although a few settled in New England and New York, the great majority went into Pennsylvania, the laws of that province granting greater privileges than any of the other colonies. James Sharon, with his wife and their sons, Hugh and William, located in the Cumberland valley, not far from the North or Blue mountains, in 1737.、

William Sharon, whose wife was Margaret Chambers, died March 2, 1751, leaving seven children-five daughters and two sons. The eldest daughter, Isabel, married a Calhoun, and from them descended the South Carolina nullifier, John Caldwell Calhoun. The younger son, William, resided in what is now Fermanagh township, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania.

It was at his house the men of that locality met in 1776, when the company of Captain John Hamilton was raised, and in which William served as ensign, doing duty upon the frontiers. It was here also that the backwoodsmen organized themselves for defence against the British and their Indian allies, who were threatening the West Branch valley.

Hugh Sharon, the son of James and brother of the first-named William, settled north of the Kittatinny or Blue mountains, where he became a highly prominent pioneer. Of his children we have only the record of his son Samuel. He was a patriot of the revolution, serving as lieutenant of a company of associators, who were in active service in the New Jersey campaign of 1776. He was also a justice of the peace for many years.

His wife was Sarah Russell, and to them were born four sons and three daughters. The eldest son, James Russell Sharon, born in 1775, was a presbyterian minister of prominence, and, for a period of almost thirty-six years, ending with his life in 1843, was the pastor of the old Paxtang church, one of the landmarks of ScotchIrish settlement in Pennsylvania. He was a man of eminent piety, was greatly beloved by his congregation, and was universally respected for the purity of his faith and the integrity of his moral character. The historian of this church quotes the recollections of a friend of the devoted minister, who says: "The tall, lank figure of Mr Sharon was one of the fixtures and features of Paxtang. His soft, white, delicate skin, blue eyes, dark hair, narrow chest-his soft, weak, but clear voice, hacking cough, etc., marked him as one short for this world. Yet he was punctual in his duties, preached good, sensible sermons, attended all the christenings, marriages, and funerals. With all odds against him, he lived his threescore and ten, and at last was gathered to his fathers, ripe for the harvest, with eternal sunshine on his head.

Samuel, the next brother in age to James Russell,

married Sarah Davis, a daughter of Joshua Davis. This family were connected with the Lincolns, Mrs Davis being a Lincoln-a cousin of President Lincoln's grandfather. Robert, the third brother of James Russell, died young. William, the youngest brother, was a prominent personage. He was elected to the state legislature of Pennsylvania in 1830, and was reëlected in 1831, 1832, 1833, and again in 1851.

The great-grandfather of Senator Sharon was James Sharon, the son of William Sharon and Margaret Chambers, the last-named William being the grandson of the Ayrshire, Scotland, farmer of the same name who settled in Ulster, as before stated. James was an elder in the presbyterian church, and was also a revolutionary patriot. He was an active partisan, and commanded a company of Cumberland county associators in the campaign around Philadelphia in September 1777. He had, among other children, Hugh, James, and William, the latter being the grandfather of the senator. Hugh and William inherited their father's several tracts of land in Fermanagh township, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, whither he, James Sharon, had removed upon the death of his father. This land was sold in 1793, previous to which time James' son William had removed to western Pennsylvania. Before leaving for that locality, he married Mrs Sarah Whitaker, a daughter of George Smiley, of the Juniata valley. They reared a family of four sons, James, William, Smiley, and John, who were all born in western Pennsylvania. In 1798 they left Pennsylvania and settled in West Virginia. They remained there several years, and about the year 1802 removed to Wells township, Jefferson county, Ohio, near the town of Smithfield, where the parents resided until their death.

William, the second son and the father of Senator Sharon, was born in 1793. He married Susan Kirk. who was a Quakeress of Scotch descent, an intelligent, kind-hearted woman, and very proud of her children.